County worker receives certificate of heroism

"Hero" is a word that gets tossed around a lot when trying to describe a person.

Sometimes, the label is an exaggeration. But what about when someone does something truly heroic, like saving another man's life?

That's exactly what Mark Marienau of Le Mars did on July 5th when he saw a fellow Plymouth County worker get electrocuted.

"A hero and a lifesaver," said Mark's daughter Elsie.

That's how Mark's Marienau's ten year old daughter, Elsie, described her father.

Elsie may be a little biased but she's not wrong, her father sprung into action to save another man's life after he saw the man had been electrocuted at their construction site.

"He was on the ground unresponsive, we checked for vitals and I started chest compression's as soon as I could tell he was, I couldn't feel a pulse or anything like that," said Marienau.

For Marienau's efforts the Le Mars' Board of Supervisors honored him at one of their regular scheduled meetings

Plymouth County Board of Supervisor Chairman, Don Kass said, "We're all proud, very proud, that our employee was able to do this. We train our road crews in CPR, we have safety training meetings every quarter."

Kass went on to say the crews were just put through CPR training and it will be a trend moving forward.

"It was fresh in his mind when he needed to do it. So thank God he was in the right place at the right time and as a result of this, later this fall, we're going to have CPR training for all county employees who have not received it recently, including here at the courthouse," said Kass.

After hearing his daughter describe him as a hero, we asked Marienau if he thought he was a hero.

"No, no I don't think I am. Just did what anyone else would do in that situation I would say," said Marienau.

And while Marienau is staying very humble about his act of bravery, his wife Judy doesn't mind talking on his behalf.

"Very proud of him and not that I had any doubt that he couldn't just step up and do that, he just did what anybody would do with that training. He basically just stepped up and did his job or what he needed to do," said Judy Marienau.

Saving another human's life is usually a one time deal but not for Marienau.

Mark and his brother were enjoying some time on the water when they saw a man drowning.